Sports Car Club of America

NEWS

MILLVILLE, N.J. (June 2, 2013) – The SCCA Eastern Conference Majors Tour capped it’s penultimate event of the season with Round 10 on Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, in an event that was well supported by drivers, workers, the South Jersey Region and the track.

With just one event and two races left to go, points were at a premium during Sunday’s competition.

Once again, the Formula 500 and Formula Vee fields highlight the opening group with multi-car battles. Tom Shaughnessy’s No. 17 QRE/Hoosier/Social Security Invader QC1/Rotax and Don Colanero’s No. 18 Scuderia Frenzinta Racing KBS Mark V/Rotax each led early, and with the duo joined part way through the 22-lap race by Brian Heun’s No. 26 Scuderia Frenzinta Racing QRE QC-1 Invader.

The three headed into Turn 1 with three different lines on Lap 17, with Heun getting the run around the back portion of the circuit and into the lead as the trio dove into the hard-braking right hand Turn Four. Once in front, Heun opened up a lead and scored the win, followed by Shaughnessy and Colanero.

The Formula Vee battle was three deep early, increased to four deep, and then was settled by the top two drivers over the final laps. Saturday winner Stevan Davis, who started from the rear of the field in the No. 80 Hoosier/Butler Engines/Roxannes Head Racer’s Wedge SB-1/VW, joined the front running trio of Richard Shields, Roger Siebenaler and Jonathan Weisheit. Shields’ No. 77 ARS Inc./Veesport Racing Vdf-2/VW and Siebnenaler’s No. 72 Autowerks/Hoosier Tire Mysterian M-2 each led early, prior to the field growing from four to three.

On lap 14, Davis and Weisheit’s No. 61 JK Technologies Protoform P3 made contact on lap 14, sending Weisheit off course and dropping Davis well behind Shields and Siebenaler in the battle for the lead. Davis was penalized by the stewards for the incident.

The two remaining battlers crossed the stripe side by side to start the final lap. Siebenaler outran Shields to the finish line, getting the win and leaving Shields with his second runner-up of the weekend.

Bob Beede started on the pole in the No. 21 Bill Fenton Motorsports Honda Civic Si, and led the opening six laps of the race before Greg Amy’s No. 33 Hoosier/HPD/Kessler Engineering Acura Integra moved into the point. Never separated by more than a few car lengths, the pair circulated through the field, with Beede moving back into the lead on lap 12.

Once in front, Beede held the lead, though Amy was in his mirrors for the remainder.

Cliff White’s No. 59 Cottage Senior Living Spec Racer Ford led from the pole, and then fell back on lap three following an off course excursion. He wasn’t the only one to experience trouble on that lap, however, as multiple cars ran off the course in Turn Two and a collision in Turn Four brought out the full course caution.

White lined up on the lap nine restart behind Jeffrey Lehner’s No. 77 Johnstown Auto Parts SRF and Bruce Myers’ No. 28 Seacoast Physiatry SRF, with White taking the lead into Turn One on lap 10. Once in front, White drove away to his second win of the weekend, with Trey Ayres coming from sixth on the restart to second overall in the No. 71 Ayres Racing SRF.

The GT-1 battle, for the second straight day, was neck and neck early. Jim McAleese lined up second in the No. 02 McAleese & Associates / Jetco Engineering Chevrolet Corvette, and hounded Saturday’s winner Dillon Machavern from the start. Machavern’s No. 29 Heritage Automotive/UniFirst/Crane Ford Falcon stayed in front of a number of outbraking maneuvers by McAleese into the first corner, until on Lap 16, McAleese went to the inside and spun.

Machavern was able to get away from McAleese, who recovered to finish second.

Chris Dryden ran away and hid from the field for an overall E Production win in the Prod Group, his second of the weekend. Dryden’s No. 02 PayPal/Carbotech/Team JBS BMW Z3 cleared the No. 00 GK Construction BMW325i of Greg Kasprzyk on lap three, and then set sail for the checkered flag over the remaining incident-free 22 laps. Along with Dryden, Jerry Hinkle swept the weekend in his F Production No. 66 Element One Associates Lotus Seven.

Brian Price started his Touring 4 No. 51 RP Performance/Unlimited Auto Body/Hoosier Mazda Miata on the overall pole in Group Six, also including Spec Miata. Price stayed just ahead of the field for the overall win, with Matt Ferris chasing him in the No. 06 S.A.C. Racing Spec Miata.

The Group Seven race, “wings and things”, saw their race shortened to 17 laps when a car spun and stalled in Turn 11, blocking part of the track, while at nearly the same time an incident in Turn One needed addressed. Stewards determined that there was not enough time to gather the field behind the pace car, clean up both incidents, and get restarted before the 22 lap count ended.

The Formula 1000 race was a cat and mouse game, with Alex Mayer’s No. 77 Mayer Motorsports/Autoworks Elan DP-04 moving around Jonathan Scarallo on lap seven. Scarallo’s No. 21 Philadelphia Motorsports Park DB-F1000 chased Mayer to the finish, but never found a way around and settled for second.

The final two rounds of the Eastern Conference Majors Tour are at during the BFGoodrich Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour at Watkins Glen International, July 5-7. The doubleheader will end the season at one of the iconic tracks in the country.

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Live timing and notes are available on Sunday at www.scca.com/SCCALive.